Costco’s New Prepared Meal Is Bringing Barbecue Vibes To Fall

Fall is here, and the cozy vibes are in full flow. Windows closed, sweatshirts on, pumpkin spice lattes poured at an almost frantic pace, and so on. It’s the time of year that most of us hang up our summer activities, tuck all those warm-weather food appliances and equipment away, and get ready to see out the long winter. For you, that might mean your meat smoker’s now holed up in your garage until next spring. Hey, maybe not: Plenty of parts of the US (and the world) are still warm, and meat smoking can be a year-round activity – but let’s be real: Smoking, barbecue, all that stuff, it screams summer. 

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So it’s maybe a slightly curious move for Costco to drop its latest prepared food, a smoked pork mac and cheese that feels like something you’d serve the day after a cookout – but it’s done just that, and we’re gonna talk about it. 

Kirkland Signature Smoked Pork Mac And Cheese

This week, Costco’s new Kirkland Signature Smoked Pork Mac And Cheese has dropped in its prepared food section, and as ever, it’s a beast of a dish. Each tray weighs in at about four pounds, and at $4.99 per pound, it’s not cheap (something customers are already saying is an issue, and understandably so) – but you go home with a lot of food. Composition-wise, it’s fairly simple, but I’d argue that’s to its benefit: It’s a combination of creamy mac and cheese, smoked pork chunks, and some shredded cheese on top. Not reinventing the wheel, but it’s mac and cheese. Do you need it to? 

Costco’s Kirkland Signature Smoked Pork Mac And Cheese is the latest in a long line of prepared food drops this year (in the last few months alone, we’ve seen shrimp ceviche, honey sesame chicken stir-fry, and burrata salad grace its shelves). After @costcobuys posted about finding it in-store, people rushed to the comments to give their two cents – and it must be said that folks don’t seem that excited about this one. As mentioned, the price is an immediate issue for some, although some have said that you get a lot for your money and that the dish is super filling. Others have taken issue with its appearance: “It looks like dog food,” said one person. Yikes.

And What Do We Think?

Well, as we said before, the choice to drop what feels like a barbecue-tinged, summer-ready dish in fall feels a little odd. Granted, mac and cheese is comforting and warming, and nobody’s saying you can’t have smoked pork outside of summer…but it does bring big BBQ energy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, and smoked meat and mac and cheese are natural bedfellows. If you need something speedy and hearty and the price doesn’t put you off, this one could be for you.